Sudden Impact (1983) - Quotes

A Killer in Pursuit of Justice

Taglines: Two killers are at large. One of them is Dirty Harry.

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Dirty Harry Returns in Sudden Impact

Taglines: Dirty Harry is at it again.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

A Father's Guilt and Redemption

Chief Jannings: He couldn't live with it. The other vermin didn't care. But him, the guilt ate at his gut like an acid. He wanted you to come back. He would pray every night that you'd come back. Until one night he couldn't wait any longer. Took his car out and smashed it and his brains into a retaining wall. Now you're here, and he doesn't even know it. My fault. I should have let him be punished then, along with the other filth. But he was my only son. his mother died giving birth to him. He and I are all each other have. I was afraid for him. Afraid for me. See, I was a public figure. So I did things. I fixed it. And now I just want you to go. Let it end.

Jennifer Spencer: There's one left.

Chief Jannings: Yes. And I've got him, in my jail. He preyed on Alby and preyed on me ever since. And that too is going to end.

Mick: [surprising them] Oh is that so, Lester boy?

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Justice and Rights in a Complicated Situation

Jennifer Spencer: So what now?

Harry Callahan: Now, I guess I'll have to...

Jennifer Spencer: Read me my rights? And where was all this concern for my rights when I was being beaten and mauled? And where were my sister's rights when she was being brutalized? There is a thing called justice, Callahan, and is it justice that they should all just walk away?

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Discussion on Firearms and Evidence Handling

Harry Callahan: Not bad.

Horace King: Not bad, my ass! You've got to strain the remains for the fingerprints.

Harry Callahan: Well, this is the .44 Magnum Auto-Mag and it hold a 300-grain cartridge. And, if properly used, it can remove the fingerprints.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Perceptions of Law Enforcement and Authority

Jennifer Spencer: I saw the commotion the other day; you're either a cop or public enemy number one.

Harry Callahan: Heh. Some people might say both.

Jennifer Spencer: Really, who?

Harry Callahan: Oh, bozos with big brass nameplates on their desk and asses the shape of the seat of their chairs.

Jennifer Spencer: Why?

Harry Callahan: Ah, it's a question of methods. Everybody wants results but nobody wants to do what they have to do to get them done.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Confrontation Over Police Conduct and Homicide Investigation

Captain Briggs: [shouting] In more than 30 years of police work, this is the single, most OUTRAGEOUS transgression of authority I ever heard about. What the HELL did you think you were doing?

Harry Callahan: My job.

Captain Briggs: Is it your job, to harass and incite an old man into a heart attack?

Harry Callahan: My job is to investigate homicide. That old man happens to be one of the biggest crime lords on the west coast. How the hell was I supposed to know he was gonna vapor-lock?

Captain Briggs: But you hoped he would?

Harry Callahan: The Doker case is mine. It was at a standstill. I was just trying to break it loose.

Captain Briggs: Sure, with threats and intimidation!

Harry Callahan: Any way possible!

Captain Briggs: Are you aware that you have destroyed MONTHS - of intelligence & surveillance work? We're talking thousands of dollar, hundreds of man-hours? Special investigations has been BUSTING ITS ASS preparing a case against Threlkis.

Harry Callahan: He would have just snaked his way out of it. Maybe we saved the taxpayers a little money.

Captain Briggs: I ought to bust your ass down to traffic. Or better yet, kick it off the force! You're a dinosaur, Callahan. Your ideas don't fit today.

Harry Callahan: Just what ideas are these? That murder's a crime? That it should be punished?

Captain Briggs: [sneering] Hey, don't you lecture me, you son-of-a-bitch. You know who you're talking to, huh? You know MY record?

Harry Callahan: Yeah. You're a legend in your own mind!

Captain Briggs: Goddamn you, Callahan!

Lt. Donnelly: Commissioner, now I...

Police Commissioner: Please, Lieutenant! The press will have a field day with this latest escapade. There may be further civil & legal repercussions. As a matter of fact there may even be attempts at retaliation. I think it would be wise if the inspector took some time off.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Unexpected Coffee Order Sparks Tension

Crook: [during a diner robbery] What's you doing, you pighead sucka?

Harry Callahan: Every day for the past ten years, Loretta there's been giving me a large black coffee; today she gives me a large black coffee, only it has sugar in it. A lotta sugar. I just came back to complain. Now, you boys put those guns down.

Crook: Say what?

Harry Callahan: Whoa...we're not just gonna let you walk out of here.

Crook: Who's "we", sucka?

Harry Callahan: [puts his coffee on the table] {{W|Smith & Wesson Model 29|Smith...and Wesson}}...and me.

Harry Callahan: {{W|Go ahead, make my day}}!

Confronting Urban Crime and Corruption

Burly Detective: What do ya think, a gang hit, screwed-up drug score, unlucky John, or an unhappy love affair? Huh? Don't tell me this shit's gettin to ya. Not Harry Callahan. Say it ain't so.

Harry Callahan: No, this stuff isn't gettin to me. The knifings, the beatings, old ladies being bashed in the head for their Social Security checks, teachers being thrown out of a fourth-floor window because they don't give a shit. That doesn't bother me a bit.

Burly Detective: Come on, Harry. Take it easy.

Harry Callahan: Or this job, either. Having to wade through the scum of this city, being swept away by bigger and bigger waves of corruption, apathy and red tape. Nah, that doesn't bother me. But you know what does bother me?

Burly Detective: What?

Harry Callahan: You know what makes me really sick to my stomach?

Burly Detective: What?

Harry Callahan: Is watching you stuff your face with those hot dogs. Nobody, I mean NOBODY puts ketchup on a hot dog.

Confrontation and Provocation in Sudden Impact

Ray Parkins: Give me what you got, twat-lips, before I give your face its first period.

Emergency Call for Assistance

Harry Callahan: Do you know the emergency phone number for San Francisco General? Well, why don't you call them right now and have them send down an ambulance. Tell them there's two sorry-looking assholes here with multiple contusions and various abrasions and broken bones.

A Warning About Consequences and Respect

Harry Callahan: Listen, punk. To me, you're nothin but dogshit, you understand? And a lot of things can happen to dogshit. It can be scraped up with a shovel off the ground. It can dry up and blow away in the wind. Or it can be stepped on and squashed. So take my advice and be careful where the dog shits ya!